It’s that time of the year again when shops, restaurants, bars and many public places are adorned with Christmas decorations. This time of year is easily one of my favourite times. Christmas time presents many photographic opportunities from traditional Christmas markets selling all sorts of festive things to lavish, exuberant Christmas decorations on display in many retail shop windows. A walk around your neighbourhood will also give you plenty of photographic opportunities to capture the spirit of Christmas.
Here is a quick run down of the top three things that I think are important to consider when you are taking pictures during the Christmas season:
White Balance
With the Christmas season upon us once again, there will be parties and social/family gatherings. Therefore there will be plenty of opportunities for you to practice with the camera and to capture the Christmas spirits with your family, friends and work colleagues. You will most likely be dealing with unnatural light sources especially if you are taking photo shoots of Christmas parties and gatherings indoor. Therefore you can either set the white balance to suit the light condition or you can adjust this in post processing.
Shooting mode
I would strongly recommend setting your camera to aperture shooting mode so that you can control the depth of field (how much of the background you want in focus). This is essential if you are taking close-up photos of Christmas decorations so you can draw in the viewer’s attention to the subject.
Background
Choose your background carefully. Often there are many things going on during the festive and holiday seasons. So the key is to ensure that before you press the shutter you think about what you want to include or exclude in your picture. Ask yourself these questions: what are you trying to convey? What do you want the viewers to see? Where do you want the viewers to focus on?
I hope this short guide is a useful reminder for when you are out and about with your camera during this festive season.
I wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!